Bed-ridden patients are treated in the congested corridors of the Oakbend Medical Center, a small hospital in Texas where a rapid increase in coronavirus cases threatens to overwhelm staff.

Emergency cases are normally guaranteed immediate care at the hospital outside Houston but, with a limited capacity of 16 beds in the ward, the influx of Covid-19 victims has forced it to use ingenuity to cope.

“Right now, under the Covid crisis, unfortunately we're having to hold patients 24, 48 hours [...] until a bed space opens up,” Bill Hamlyn, director of emergency critical care, told AFP.

Houston has emerged as a national hotspot of infections in recent weeks as the United States flounders in its efforts to control the virus and case numbers rocket to record highs.